Woman's entire family dies after she tests positive for COVID-19 — and keeps diagnosis a secret

A 36-year-old Venezuelan woman and her entire family were dead in just weeks after she received a positive COVID-19 diagnosis and reportedly hid the news from them.

What are the details?

According to a Newsweek report Thursday, Verónica García Fuentes found out that she had COVID-19 in December, but did not divulge the information to her husband — who was 33 — and their three children — one of which was 17, and two who were just 4 years old.

Instead, she reportedly told her husband, José Antonio Gómez, that she was suffering from the flu.

The report says that for about two weeks, Fuentes concealed her illness, but came clean to her husband when he was set to attend a family party.

Fuentes developed COVID-19-related pneumonia, but her family — which included her husband and three children — initially tested negative. Two weeks later, she was admitted to a hospital, and the family ended up testing positive.

Just days after the positive diagnosis, her husband joined her in the hospital and a week after that, both were dead.

According to a report from El Periódico Mediterráneo, a doctor who treated Fuentes' husband said that the decedent "had black lungs."

By the end of January, the couple's three children — one of which had an underlying illness — also succumbed to the virus.

What else?

The outlet reported that the family's deaths have sparked a conversation about the virus in the country, and "health workers have asked the population to reflect on the severity of the virus" as well as the need to "receive treatment in time."

At the time of this reporting, researchers at Johns Hopkins University estimate that there have been at least 128,315 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Venezuela and at least 1,209 deaths.

This story has been updated.